The UAE has accelerated its alternate energy generation plans with its biggest nuclear plant, Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, gearing up to meet about 40 percent of the country’s current peak power demand of 15,000 megawatt (MW).
With two units of Barakah already operating at maximum capacity currently – each generating up to 1,400 MW of zero-carbon electricity 24/7 all year around – the UAE is making significant headway in meeting peak demand with clean, abundant electricity from the nuclear plant, the largest single source of clean electricity in the Arab region today.
The country is making rapid progress in meeting the globally approved climate goals while achieving energy security through alternate sources, amid unseasonal floods and heat conditions wreaking havoc in many parts of the world, widely believed to be due to global warming effects.
The International Energy Agency (IAE) has released a special report that charts a pathway to building a global energy sector with net-zero emissions in 2050.
According to latest data, the four units at Barakah nuclear plant, located in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi, can generate up to 5,600 MW of clean electricity around the clock – equivalent to almost 40 percent of the country’s total peak electricity demand.
The Barakah plant is also accelerating UAE’s path towards Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative through the rapid decarbonisation of the power sector, with supply of reliable clean electricity to power homes and businesses across the nation.
Once fully operational, the four units will prevent 22.4 million tons of carbon emissions annually, while bridging to other clean energy technologies, such as clean hydrogen.
This clean electricity generation is particularly important in this region, where temperature degrees regularly rise to around 40 Celsius in the summer, leading to a massive rise in usage of air conditioning and water desalination.
Barakah’s unit 1 completed a full year of commercial operations that began in April 2021 and has generated more than 10.5 Terawatt hours of clean electricity.
Unit 2 achieved commercial operations on 24 March 2022, less than a year after Unit 1, to double the benefits nuclear energy brings to the nation.
This will be increased further with the expected start of the operations process at Unit 3 in 2022.
Barakah is one of the largest nuclear energy plants in the world in terms of installed capacity, with four APR-1400 Units capable of generating up to 25 percent of the country’s electricity. once fully operational
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified several pathways to limit global warming to 1.5°C in the coming decades and sees nuclear generation as playing an important role in decarbonizing the energy sector.
It expects that by mid-century, the majority of primary energy will come from renewable and nuclear energy in most scenarios.
Additionally, the IEA states that to achieve Net Zero by 2050, the world needs to double existing nuclear energy capacity from about 400 GW to more than 800 GW.
Follow us on
